The Mind
So far in this short book I have possibly gone beyond what a casual reader might have expected from the title: yes, I have talked about body, soul, and spirit as the components of who I am as a human, but I have digressed also somewhat: can science tell us everything? Is there a reality beyond the seen? What happens when we die?
Are these valid digressions?
My proposal is that to understand truly what it means to be human we do have to see ourselves in the context of eternity. The Bible presents us with a challenge: we humans are God's creation; we have a purpose originally given of being the custodians of the planet we live on, and that responsibility has not been withdrawn; we humans are going to live for ever, either within or outside the presence of our Creator; the grand plan is for a total transformation of ourselves, which our current language has no words for.
In the 21st century these ideas are rarely accepted as a given, as an acceptable, truth. Our thinking does not come to these naturally.
Perhaps there is something wrong with our thinking.
And that is quite simply how Jesus began His public ministry: He said that people needed a 'new mind', though the sentence usually comes over as the archaic word 'repent' (Mark 1:15).
But the word actually means 'get a new mind'.
The Greek word for mind is nous. Here are some passages in the New Testament where the word occurs:
Furthermore, just as they [godless people] did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. (Rom. 1:28)
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. (Rom 7:21-23
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:2)
Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Eph 4:17)
Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds. (Eph 4:22-23)
[people to avoid] ... are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. (Col 2:18)
[warnings about] ... men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth. (1 Tim. 6:5)
[warnings about] ... men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith. (2 Tim. 3:8)
To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted. (Titus 1:15)
The concept of mind from these examples is very clear: our very patterns of thinking can become corrupted, and need to be renewed. Our minds need the influence of the spirit to be 'put right'. Our standards, our values, our sense of right and wrong, can all be skewed, especially by the influence of the values and standards we are surrounded by.
Being human in the 21st century involves examining all the standards and influences of the society we live in, and taking nothing for granted. Some challenge!